New Beginnings

Posted on Sat Jul 6th, 2019 @ 10:31pm by Commander Natan O'Donnaghue & Commander Curtis Thibideaux

1,514 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: New Beginnings
Location: Promenade Level 3, Vulcan bakery
Timeline: -19 NB

The smell of baked goods filled the early morning station air. Well, Curtis reflected, the air was the same. Early morning was only defined by chronometers, not a sun rising or falling.

Technically, Curtis had been up for hours. Well, technically he’d never slept. Anticipation was like that.

At least for him.

Right now, he was waiting to meet up with one Commander Natan O'Donnaghue, newly minted Captain of the USS Valiant, which coincidentally was Curtis’s new duty station as well.

Natan had time in grade on him of course, but it felt odd to be only horizontally and not vertically (command chain wise) removed from the center chair. He grinned into the mug of Temellentian coffee and stretched as much as he could into the resin replicated chair, which really wasn’t made for comfort.

Natan walked around the many places on the station. Holding a padd, he was suppose to meet commander Thibideaux. He wasn't even sure if he could pronounce that name. When he finally found him sitting with a cup of coffee, he walked over to him. He was quite adapt at not reading the thoughts of others. "Commander Thibidea..." When he failed he immediately went on to introduce himself. "I am commander O'Donnaghue."

Standing, Curtis smiled. "It's Thibideaux, Commander. Thib-i-deaux, but you can call me Curt, if it's easier. Gesturing to the chair across from him. Have a seat and a beverage?"

"Well, Curt it is," Natan said. "And I am Natan. O'Donnaghue is my wife's family name. I am not actually Irish, well, I guess I am since I accepted the name." He sat down and continued, "A beverage will be fine. What are you having? I will go for a gin and tonic. Apparently its the drink of the O'Donnaghue brothers." He laughed. "I never had brothers till I married the girl with just brothers. But I guess that works both ways, I had nothing but sisters."

Touching the side of his mug he said, "Temellentian Coffee, they grind it on station from plants in Hydroponics. He tapped Natan's order into the tables terminal. "Family is family, once everything shakes out," Curt said sagely, "I grew up aboard ship; the youngest of five. All of us Spacers. I'm the only one that chose to go to the Fleet like my dad, though he was in the Merchant Marine." Taking a sip from his mug, he slumped into the chair, grinning "Mother is not impressed by the lack of grandkids from her youngest. But, my sisters are taking the brunt of that front."

Natan nodded, "I am the youngest of 4 and the only son. And we all went in to Starfleet. My oldest sister Talim served as an diplomatic admiral before she became an ambassador on Betazed. My other sisters are doctors. My sister Layla is commanding a medical ship and my sister Chelsea just accepted the position of chief of staff of a task force. She apparently had an old steamrunner class patched up and renamed. I kinda miss them. When I first started, we all served on the USS Alrington together. Oh those times." He smiled when he remembered. Then he got back to reality. "So yes, I got a message that the Valiant is almost ready."

Nodding, Curtis tapped his PADD and said, "Someone thinks it is, but I was actually able to get the ship's new schematics the other day and have been doing some comparisons. The ships had a few updates and other work that I'm not finding in the logs I've gotten so far. And I went out with a admin assistant from Bu'Ships last night and she had, obligingly, pulled up a bit more. The work crews did a walk through. Ran a power up test for life support and basically trusted the computer when it said all systems are functioning within normal parameters."

Taking a sip from his coffee, Curtis shrugged. "It'll probably fly and we be fairly sure that it won't bleed atmosphere, but the shake down cruise could be pretty shaky. I hope Bu'Pers can dig up a good chief Engineer for us. I didn't have much luck getting a preliminary crew list though. I'm thinking they haven't made up their minds yet.."

Natan shrugged. "I just arrived here and gotten my orders today." He picked up his drink that was brought to him. He looked at it a moment. "I haven't looked at the crew we do have yet either. I saw a flight control officer briefly, but that's it. Like I said I just arrived and got pushed the order in my hands."

Chuckling, Curtis sat back, "Sorry if I'm too eager. I'm guessing you haven't even heard from the Admiral to officially take command. There's no change of command ceremony and with Valiant being such a small ship at the Fleet HQ, it'll be barely a blip in the Flag Officer's daily calendar...Ahh well."

Natan laughed too, "Well that is alright, I don't like to be in the spotlight. And speeches aren't really my forty. So, I will just come on board, announce myself to the crew and get the ship bloody out of the docking bay." Being married to an Irish human, and hanging mostly with his Irish in laws got him some Irish spirit most likely.

Curtis nodded as Natan spoke, then said "Speaking of Bu'Pers and family. I see we were assigned an Intel Officer named O'Donnaghue as well." Checking his PADD, he said. One Lieutenant Commander Bella O'Donnaghue. A relative or a coincidence?"

Natan put on a brought grin on his fine as the lines around his eyes became more clear. "Not a coincidence, commander. That would be my wife and the mother of my children. I said I wanted the best. She is one of the best." He said.

Curtis leaned back in his chair then and said, "Well, I grew up with my entire family running a freighter. It can be very comforting when everyone is getting along. On a small ship, it can make the ship even smaller if there's animosity. Especially with the berthing limitations we'll have. Have you two had the chance to serve together before?"

"I met my wife while we served on the same ship. My second assignment, the USS Arlington, we haven't been apart since. And if we have, it wasn't long." Natan said. And to think I thought I wouldn't get married to a starfleet officer again." He fell silent a moment and then continued, "You see, my first wife was in starfleet as well. We weren't together long. She died in a transporter accident. Of all the ways to go." He sighed and just went on, "Anyways, commander, are you married?" He changed the subject.

Curtis shook his head, "No sir. I'm a Star Fleet cliche. Too busy with my career, etc.. Or maybe too content to trust in the Universe and Fate to line that sort of thing up for me."

Natan played with his drink. "Fate, a strange thing that is. Imagine stepping on to your next assignment and there she is. Standing there. You haven't exchanged names and your mother tells you you are getting married. And you have nothing to say in the matter. This has been decided when you could barely speak, barely walk. And you do it, because you don't want to turn down your family. And then fate have you fall in love, you take her on a romantic date and then, she dies. Fate didn't want you to be with her after all. Funny thing, fate." He took a sip. "Kurt, take it from me. Don't tempt fate."

They sat in silence for a moment and Curt caught sight of a particularly curvy blonde walking by and he tried to add a bit of humor to the solum moment, "The trouble is sir, what if Fate tries to tempt me?" He said, gesturing toward the woman who caught his eyes and smiled as she passed.

Natan hadn't even noticed the woman walking by, till Curt started talking again. He looked up and saw Curt winking at her. He remembered he was like that before he married Risa. Their bond changed everything for him. His mind, his life, his heart. "I can't tell you what to do, Curt." He leaned over to him. "But when you meet the right one, take her. I did. And I am glad I did. Still no regrets." He looked to his empty glass.

Curtis thought for a moment, then stood, gathering his documents. "If you have no objections, sir, I'll just go see if that young lady might not be the one," he said grinning. "She's just my type too."

"No,"Natan said, "By all means, Commander." He waved to him. He turned around and watched Curtis over his shoulder as he went for the blond and then grinned as he got up to go in the other direction. He never been at Obsidian fleet head quarters, he would go for a little exploring.

END

 

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